Will Baseball Return to D.C.?

Published 8:00 pm, Wednesday, January 16, 2002

AP Sports Writer

After years _ no, decades _ of failed hopes and fruitless waiting, supporters of baseball in Washington are finally starting to believe it just might happen.

The two ownership groups trying to bring a team to the area brimmed with optimism Thursday after commissioner Bud Selig, speaking at the owners' meeting in Phoenix, said the nation's capital was a "prime candidate" for relocation. Selig's aides said no team would move until 2003 at the earliest.

"He gives us a little more light at the end of the tunnel," said Fred Malek, who heads a group that wants a team in downtown Washington. "We weren't expecting it. But it's clearly the most positive statement we've had from the commissioner on a public or private basis."

Washington has been without a team since 1971, when the expansion Senators became the Texas Rangers. Politicians, businessmen and fans have campaigned aggressively for baseball's return ever since, lobbying for expansion teams and courting financially struggling ones.

It came close to happening only once _ when the Houston Astros were set to move to the suburbs of Northern Virginia in 1996 if a stadium referendum failed. It passed 51 to 49 percent.

"We've always believed," said William Collins, who heads the Northern Virginia ownership group. "Major league baseball has always recognized the significance of this national capital area and the Northern Virginia marketplace."

The team most likely to relocate would be the Montreal Expos, who were last in the league in attendance last year.

Before it can happen, the issue of whether Malek's downtown group or Collins' suburban group would own the team has to be resolved. On Thursday, both seemed amenable to the idea of forming one group.

"We could we work together," Malek said. "Could we come together? The answer is absolutely yes."

Said Malek: "If we get a team in D.C, we would welcome Bill and his group to join us."

A relocated team would play at RFK Stadium _ the old home of the Senators _ for two or three seasons while a new stadium is built.

The move would also face opposition from Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who has said repeatedly that his team would suffer financially if a team were placed in Washington.